Eternity
by MoniqueC
Summary: Set a few months after 7.11  Disarm  Meredith and Derek are on their way to happily ever after with the news of a new baby on the way, but will they be able to make it with the obstacles that are constantly in their path?
1. Chapter 1

Unfortunately, Grey's Anatomy and its characters don't belong to me, but below is a story that I wrote based off of the show, which you hopefully enjoy.

Meredith and Derek were the absolute picture of love especially since they found out three months ago that they were expecting a baby. All Meredith's fears about being a good mother were cast aside the moment she knew about the tiny life inside of her, because instantly she felt nothing but love for it. She and Derek had kept the baby a secret from everyone including Christina since they found out, trying not to jinx the first trimester after what had happened last time. Now that they were in their second trimester they were ready to shout their news from the roof tops. Coincidentally their new house had been finished just under a week ago and they planned on throwing what they were calling a "house party" on Saturday for all of their close friends and family, and it would be there that they would break their good news. However, not wanting Christina to be hurt by finding out with everyone else, Derek had agreed that Meredith could tell Christina before the party, so eagerly the morning before the party Meredith begged Christina to go shopping with her for the party so she would have an excuse to tell her.

Christina wasn't much of the shopping type so Meredith basically had to beg Christina to go down to Pike Place Market with her. "I don't understand why we can't just go to some superstore and get everything we need in one spot without walking through half the city." Christina whined as they pushed their way through the crowds of tourists gawking at the flying fish in Pike Place. "I seriously think my feet are sticking to the floor with all of these fish guts." Christina complained as she slipped a little on the concrete floor, looking down in disgust. "Come on Christina, this is the best place for fresh flowers!" Meredith replied as she spotted her favorite flower vendor. "Since when have you cared about 'fresh' flowers?" Christina asked glaring at Meredith. "Like I said, superstore, they have flowers, food, and no tourists!" Christina exclaimed as another person bumped into her. "I've cared about fresh flowers since this is a special night." Meredith hinted. "As I recall at your last house warming party we didn't need fresh flowers we needed lots of tequila." Christina chided. "Three heads Christina!" Meredith whipped around to say jokingly slapping Christina's arm. "I know I know! You're no fun now that your trying for a baby." Christina said, not really meaning it but trying to rattle Meredith. "We're not 'trying' for a baby anymore." Meredith said before she quickly turned around to hide her telltale grin. "Yeah well…wait what?" Christina asked just now realizing what Meredith had said. Meredith turned around glowing, "We're not trying to have a baby anymore, we are going to have a baby!" Meredith said tears starting to form in her eyes. It had been nearly impossible to keep this pregnancy from Christina, and she had wanted to tell her about it the moment they found out, but she had to keep herself under serious restraint from bursting out their little secret. "Mere that's amazing!" Christina said pulling Meredith into one of her rare hugs, tears now also present in Christina's eyes. "How far along are you?" Christina asked suddenly forgetting about the numerous people bumping into them and her feet sticking to the floor. "About 4 months now." Meredith said a little nervous about Christina's reaction once she found out that Derek and Meredith had been keeping it from her for this long. She didn't have to worry about it though because without saying anything Christina knew why they would just want to keep it between them until they were somewhat out of the woods. "I'm still going to be the godmother right?" Christina asked seriously. "Of course you are!" Meredith said so happy to see her 'person' overjoyed at their news. "Wait a second this isn't just some house warming party is it? This is to trick everyone into telling them about the baby isn't it?" Christina asked catching onto their plan and realizing why fresh flowers and all of this stuff from Pike Place that they were after was so important to Meredith. "You found me out." Meredith said coyly as she started to pick through the various flower bouquets again. "So how do you plan to break the news to everybody?" Christina asked curiously knowing that they must have something up their sleeve. "Well actually I was going to tell you about that, you're sort of a key part to our little plan." Meredith said hoping that Christina would agree to the sneaky plan. "I refuse to do anything with baby items or pregnancy tests." Christina informed Meredith before hearing the plan. "Good it doesn't have to do with any of those things, the plan is…"


	2. Chapter 2

Unfortunately, Grey's Anatomy and its characters don't belong to me, but below is a story that I wrote based off of the show, which you hopefully enjoy.

Sorry for the short chapters, I will start writing more in the coming chapters, I just wanted to break up this part of the story a little. Hopefully you enjoy it, please send me reviews!

It was a few hours later when Meredith and Christina were back at the new house preparing for the party. Meredith had bought so many bouquets of flowers that the vendor had to help them to their car with all of the bundles. Derek had laughed as he stepped out on to the front porch and watched Meredith and Christina struggle into the house with armfuls of flowers and nothing else. "Did you get enough flowers?" Derek asked before he burst into a round of laughter again. "Very funny, don't you think you should be lending your pregnant wife a hand with all of these flowers?" Christina barked at him. Derek immediately hopped into action. "So I take it you told Christina about the baby?" Derek asked carrying his own armload of flowers into the kitchen where Meredith was busy searching for every vase they could possibly own. "Hmmm…Oh yeah I did, and she's in for our little plan." Meredith said happily. Derek was so glad that Meredith had a friend like Christina even if it did mean he had to share his bed with her sometimes, and not even in a good way. "Has the caterer arrived yet?" Meredith asked looking around for any sign of hors d'oeuvres. "No not yet, but I spoke with them not too long ago and they said they were running just a few minutes behind." Derek said hoping that this wouldn't stress Meredith out. "Yeah, so what is on the menu for tonight? I'm starving thanks to your wife's slave driving today! I didn't get to eat at all!" Christina piped in from the corner of the kitchen where she was staring in their so far empty pantry. "Wait you girls didn't eat today?" Derek asked almost angrily as he looked at Meredith. "Oh! I forgot, I was so nervous about telling Christina and everyone tonight. I'm sorry baby!" She said not to Derek but looking down at her ever so slightly protruding stomach before opening up the fridge to find something nutritious for them, only managing to find an apple. "Meredith you can't forget ok?" Derek said walking over to Meredith and sweeping his hand over her stomach. "This little one is worth far more than any party." Derek said "I know, I'm sorry it won't happen again." Meredith said almost laughing at how cute Derek was when he was being protective. "If you two are done being all McDreamy over there would one of you answer my question, what's for dinner?" Christina asked her stomach grumbling again as she almost jealously eyed Meredith's apple. "Oh I'm sorry." Meredith said as she turned to face Christina snapped out of her reverie. "We are having a lot of finger food like sliders, shrimp, bruschetta, stuffed mushrooms, you know that kind of stuff and then Derek and Mark are supposedly Barbequing although I've never seen Mark go near a BBQ in my life." Meredith said laughing at the idea of Mark in Derek's 'Real men BBQ' apron. "You're kidding right? Maybe I will just stick with the hors d'oeuvres." Christina said joining in Meredith's laughter. "You two will regret doubting us when you taste our BBQ chicken, ribs, and trout." Derek said kissing Meredith on the forehead before heading out to the backyard to start up said BBQ. Once he was gone Christina and Meredith continued in their fit of laughter imitating Mark at a BBQ. Just then Mark and Lexie came waltzing into the kitchen, "You better not be laughing at me Grey!" He said walking over and giving his adopted sister in law a big hug and a kiss while Lexie put down the meat that they had brought to BBQ. Lexie stood at the large granite island in the kitchen and looked around the beautiful house. "Wow Mere this is amazing! Maybe I should have chosen a neurosurgeon over a plastic surgeon." Lexie said jokingly as she looked over at Mark for his response. "Hey these are million dollar hands just like Derek's!" Mark said acting hurt. "She is right though Grey this place is nice, do you need some roommates?" He asked looking around at it's sheer size. "You surely have some spare bedrooms." Mark said smiling "Hey! The spare bedroom is mine in case I ever need to stay here! It even says so on the blueprints. So hands off!" Christina ordered before they got any ideas. "Besides I think Derek would kill me if we had roommates again, he just got done calling my old place a dorm." Meredith said. "How is the house by the way?" Meredith asked Lexie. She had let everyone stay there just as long as they paid the taxes and utilities. "April thinks she's taking it over, she even tried to move into your old bedroom, but Mark and I snatched that up real quick." Lexie said proud of herself. "Wait you're living there now, what about your apartment?" Meredith asked a little confused. "My apartment was about 5 grand a month why pay that when I can stay in a perfectly good house for way cheaper." Mark said not afraid to let everyone know that he did have a cheap side. Meredith just shook her head, "Well, Derek's out back firing up the BBQ without you, so you had better get out there and help him." Meredith said barely able to keep herself from bursting into laughter again at the thought of Mark Barbequing.

Slowly, the house started to fill with all of their close friends and family as everyone started to get off of their shifts. Everyone gawked at the house, Richard even informed Derek that he was paying him too much if he could afford to build a house this nice in Seattle. It was nearing the middle of the party and everyone was having an excellent time, it had been a rough year for them, so every chance they got to be together and appreciate one another was a chance that they didn't pass up anymore.

"Everyone we want a group picture of you at our new house!" Derek called as he tried to round everyone out into the front yard, where he had a camera on a tripod all set up. "Huddle up close!" Meredith and Derek ordered as they squeezed into the middle of the frame. "Christina would you go and set the timer?" Meredith asked coyly as their plan was in motion. Christina went pushed the button and then rushed back to her spot next to Owen, "Alright…everyone say…" Cheese is what ran through everyone's head but Christina said something totally different. "Everyone say Meredith's Pregnant!" Christina called out with a big smile on her face just as the camera snapped the photo, each person with a different look of understanding as to what just happened. "Perfect!" Meredith said hugging Christina. Words of congratulations suddenly flooded Meredith and Derek as everyone took their turn to pull them into a tight embrace. Christina ran over to the camera to look at the photo that they had just taken and it was amazing, the looks on all of their faces was priceless. They all passed the camera around each one laughing at his or her reaction. "Derek I want a copy of this picture, we are putting it up at the hospital!" Richard said proudly. "Why?" Meredith asked a little confused. "It's about time Seattle Grace had a little joy to spread." Richard said as he pulled Meredith into another hug, he was just as proud as a father in that moment. Everything was finally going their way!


	3. Chapter 3

Unfortunately, Grey's Anatomy and its characters don't belong to me, but below is a story that I wrote based off of the show, which you hopefully enjoy.

I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review.

Meredith was now 7 months pregnant and she couldn't have asked for a better pregnancy, everything thus far was going incredibly smoothly, especially with everyone at Seattle Grace watching over her like a hawk. Meredith was so cute pregnant, her tiny little body with this basketball protruding out front, it looked like at any moment Meredith would just fall forward from all of the extra weight in her stomach.

Meredith stood in the pit charting while it was quiet when Derek came around behind her wrapping his arms around her stomach, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek. "Who is this?" Meredith asked jokingly as she turned around to face Derek's deep blue eyes. "How many someone's do you know that greet you like that?" Derek asked acting hurt, "Well…" Meredith said before she started laughing and went in to kiss Derek. "What are you doing down here?" Meredith asked sincerely, she thought he had a craniotomy this morning. "It turned out to be a quick fix." Derek said smiling still looking down at this gorgeous woman he called his wife, who was carrying his baby girl. "Wow, I guess." Meredith said glancing down at her watch. "I'm just that good." Derek said with a big smile. "Oh and so modest too!" Meredith replied before pecking him on the cheek and telling him that she had to get back to work, she was very busy. "I can see that." Derek said looking around the empty pit. "No, Der I really have a lot of charting to catch up on, I've been slacking a little." Meredith said pointing to the huge stack of charts piled on the desk below them. "Ouch." Derek said empathizing with her pain. "Well, at least do one thing for me before I go back upstairs." Derek asked. "Oh and what's that?" Meredith asked with a little dirty in her eyes. "You're a bad girl!" Derek said laughing. "No not that, I want you to sit down while you chart. You shouldn't be on your feet any longer than you absolutely have to." Derek requested. Knowing that he was just looking out for her and baby Isabella, Meredith agreed and took the chart that she was working on around the other side of the desk and sat down to work on it. As soon as Meredith sat down she instantly felt better. "Ok, you're right that is better. Now get back to work." Meredith ordered. "Yes Ma'am" Derek responded liking it when Meredith was a little bossy. With one last kiss Derek made his way back upstairs to the surgical floor.

It was only a few minutes later when a man dressed in plaid and jeans came rushing in the emergency doors, looked around, and then rushed over to Meredith. "Please come help!" He asked desperately. "What is it?" Meredith asked as she jumped up to follow the man outside. "It's my brother, he's in real bad shape!" The man said as Meredith followed him over to his blue impala. Meredith looked around quizzically, "Where is he?" She asked not seeing anyone in the car. "You need to come with me to him." The man said as he opened the passenger door to his Impala. Suddenly a chill went down Meredith's back. "No…if he is hurt somewhere we will call an ambulance for him, I can't come with you." Meredith said wishing that she had grabbed a nurse or someone to come outside with her in the first place. "No that's not how it works today." The man barked as he pulled out a knife and pointed it at Meredith. Meredith gasped. "Please no! Can't you see that I'm pregnant." Meredith pleaded, she couldn't lose another baby because of some angry idiot she just couldn't. "Well then, you better do exactly as I say and you will be fine! Now get in the car!" He growled as he motioned toward the door. With one last regretful glance at Seattle Grace Meredith did as he said and climbed in the passenger door. Once she was in the car the man slammed the door shut and flew around to the other side before they sped off picking up dust as they zoomed through the parking lot.

It was a couple of hours later and lunch time when Christina, April, Alex, and Avery were sitting at a table in the cafeteria talking about the various cases that they had seen that day. "Where the hell is Meredith?" Christina asked looking around. "Good question, she never misses a meal." Alex added in laughing a little as they all started to look around the room for her. "She was in the pit today, maybe something interesting came in." April stated taking a bite of her sandwich. "Well if she has a good case then she should have called me down there. I've had nothing good all day." Christina whined as she took one more look around the cafeteria before digging into her lunch. A few minutes later Derek came over to the table with a puzzled look on his face. "Where's Meredith?" Derek asked looking around and not seeing her. "That's what we were just wondering." April piped in. "She better not still be working on those charts." Derek said as he stalked off towards the pit, she couldn't neglect her and the babies nutrition for simple charting that an intern could easily do for her. When Derek got down to the pit it seemed like all hell had broken loose since the last time he was down there. Derek averted his gaze to the desk where Meredith had been working earlier and there sat her charts in the same stack as they were when he had been down there before, she should have gotten further than that. Derek's stomach started to do summersaults, something didn't feel right. Then in one of the trauma bays Derek spotted Owen, quickly Derek strode over to him. "Have you seen Meredith?" Derek asked worry evident in his voice. "That's what I was getting ready to ask you, I've been paging her for 45 minutes and she hasn't responded." Owen said realization dawning on his face that something was wrong. "Oh God!" Derek said turning around in circles. "Where could she be?

Immediately, Derek picked up his cell phone and started frantically dialing Meredith's number, one, two, three, four rings… "Dammit voicemail!" Derek cursed as he redialed again. Same thing. Suddenly Derek broke into a sprint running to Richard's office. "Derek what is it?" Richard asked as Derek came rushing into his office out of breath. "Meredith, I can't find Meredith!" Derek said in between gasps for breath. "Slow down Derek, what do you mean you can't 'find' her?" Richard asked standing up from his desk. "I mean just that, she isn't answering her pager or her phone, and it's been at least 45 minutes since Owen has been trying to page her!" Derek said frustrated. "Maybe she fell asleep in an on call room, did you check there?" Richard asked grasping for ideas. "No…no I didn't." Derek said realizing that was the first place he should have checked. Not certain of his theory Richard went over to the hospital intercom, "Dr. Meredith Grey please report to the chiefs office immediately." Richard said slowly and clearly.

Christina, Alex, April, and Avrey all looked up in concern as they heard the page over the intercom, something wasn't right. Immediately, they all jumped up and sprinted to the chiefs office. "What's going on?" Christina asked as she was the first one to reach the office. She saw Derek whip his head around as the door opened, but saw the disappointment in his eyes when he realized that she wasn't Meredith. "We can't find her." Derek said with a lack luster in his voice.

Anxiously, they all waited in the chiefs office for Meredith to come wobbling in, but she never came. Derek continued to re-dial and re-dial her cell phone each time with the same response, then on his seemingly hundredth re-dial something was different, her phone went directly to voicemail, no ringing. "Her phone, it's off now!" Derek said exasperated not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Everyone looked at him in alarm, why would her phone be off after all of this time trying to get a hold of her. As they all stood there debating what it could be a thought suddenly came to Alex, "The security camera's." Alex practically shouted. "What Dr. Karev?" Richard asked before he realized what Alex was saying. "The security camera's of course." Richard said as he plowed his way out the door on a mission to the security office, everyone close in tow. Richard burst through the door. "I need to see the security footage of the pit, rewinding since about an hour ago." Richard ordered to the bumbling security guard. Fumbling around with the keyboard he finally pulled up the pit. Derek's heart clenched as he looked at the hours pass quickly on the bottom of the screen and Meredith's spot at the desk still remained unchanged, and then they saw her, she was going backwards coming in the emergency doors with a man, which meant that 4 hours ago she walked out those same doors and never returned. "Pull up the ambulance bay now!" Derek demanded as he kept his eyes glued to his wife's form on the screen. "Not again…not again…not again." Christina was muttering under her breath terrified, they were all terrified, but they were horror struck when they saw the same man force Meredith into his car with a knife. Derek spun around and punched the wall behind him so hard that he put a hole in the plaster. "Derek…" April started to say but stopped when she saw the pain in his eyes. Richard was busy calling 911, his head whirring. Alex almost just as angry as Derek ready to punch the security guard for not catching this earlier, Avery and April stood back silently in shock, while Christina just stared at the frozen frame on the screen, Meredith's pleading eyes giving one last look at the hospital. "She has to be ok. She just has too!" Christina barely whispered as they all looked on helpless.


	4. Chapter 4

Unfortunately, Grey's Anatomy and its characters don't belong to me, but below is a story that I wrote based off of the show .

I threw a little twist in there, which hopefully you enjoy, I based a lot of what I did on your reviews so please keep reviewing and let me know what you think!

As the Impala seemingly neared its destination, Meredith's heart almost felt a quiver when the car turned down a dirt road in the woods, and chose to go right instead of left and stopped at a shack in the middle of the woods, it was too good to be true, Meredith hid her excitement but realized that if the car had gone left it would have been only a matter of time before the car reached Derek and Meredith's house! As the man whose name she had come to learn was James told her to get out of the car Meredith couldn't help but wonder what the odds of all this were, and for a moment she contemplated breaking out into a dead run towards the house, and she probably would have had she not been 7 months pregnant, but she just couldn't take the chance, not yet anyway. "Get in there!" James ordered as he once again proved his dominance by waving around the knife at her. Meredith did as she was told and went into the shack, not really sure what to expect. In the left corner of the shack laid a man wrenching in pain from an apparent gunshot wound to the lower abdominal quadrant, her medical instincts getting the best of her Meredith immediately rushed up to him and began assessing his wounds. Then it dawned on her, they didn't bring any medical supplies. "This is a life threatening injury and without the proper medical equipment I can't do anything to save him!" Meredith said turning around to face James who was hovering over her shoulder. "Nice try, I nabbed some stuff that looked important from your little ER." James said almost menacingly. James left the house for just a moment and came back in with his arms loaded in gauze, antiseptic, suture kits, etc. Meredith couldn't understand how he had been able to steal all of this stuff right under their noses, but this was not the time to worry about that. Meredith stood up and began sifting through the supplies, there was nothing to put his brother out while she explored the wound. "I need some sort of anesthesia." Meredith said still trying to figure out what she had of use to work with. James looked around the shack for a moment and then went over to the kitchen area pulling out a bottle of cheap bourbon, "This will have to do." He said bringing it over to his brothers side. Meredith didn't have any choice but to work with it. "Fine." She said grabbing some of the supplies and going back over to the brothers side. "He's going to need that whole bottle if you expect him to make it through the trauma of me cutting him open." Meredith said looking down at the mans pain stricken face. "He'll be fine!" James snapped. "What's his name?" Meredith asked as she began to prep the wound. "Steve." James said not looking up from his brother who was now guzzling down the bourbon. Meredith pulled the scalpel out from one of the kits that James had grabbed and with a little hesitation began to explore the wound. Steve was screaming in excruciating pain while James tried to muffle his screams with a stick that he had picked up outside. Meredith couldn't believe her luck as she realized that yet another thing had gone her way in this terrible situation, the bullet hadn't gone far, it was just lodged in some thick muscle. With expert hands she extracted the bullet and began to suture the wound back up. "He's going to be fine." Meredith told James who was watching her every move. "He's going to be fine." Meredith said again hoping beyond all hope that he would let her go now. James breathed a sigh of relief. "You hear that bro…you're going to be fine." James said giving Steve a kiss on the forehead, that reminded Meredith of Italian mob families. Once he was bandaged Meredith dared to ask about her fate. "Please can I go? I will keep my mouth shut!" Meredith sort of pleaded. James looked up from his place at the table and glanced out the window. "Yeah I'll let you go, but not yet." He said in an almost satirical tone that frightened Meredith.

The police were at Seattle Grace in a matter of minutes after they received the call from Richard Webber. Sarge walked in and went directly up to Richard with sad eyes, "I thought we agreed not to meet under these conditions anymore." He said sadly. "Me too." Richard said quietly. "Update me." Sarge said as they walked towards Richards office, the floor covered with doctors and nurses with their heads in their hands, some crying, some praying, some just looking blankly in front of them. "So I guess this girl means a lot to you all." Sarge said once they stepped foot into the office. "She means more than that to us, and she's pregnant." Richard said taking a sad glance at the picture hanging on his wall of everyone at Derek and Meredith's house announcing their pregnancy, hadn't that just been a moment ago? How did they get this far from that happy moment? Once Richard explained what they knew and they had shown Sarge the surveillance tapes, Sarge had a grim look on his face, "That's James Fantinillo, he and his brother just robbed a bank downtown this morning." Sarge said knowing that the Fantinillo brothers were known for demonstrating extreme violence at their robberies.

Derek paced outside of Webber's office barely able to burst through the door to see what the hell the police were going to do to find his wife, the only thing that kept him out was Mark who kept grabbing Derek's shoulder and reassuring him that Meredith and Isabella would be fine, that they would find her and the bastards that did this. Meanwhile Owen was having to go through about the same routine with Christina who was ready to pummel the next officer she saw. Christina couldn't help but think that Seattle Grace was a magnet for disasters as she thought back to everything that had happened to them in the past few years, the bomb, Burke getting shot, Denny dying, Meredith drowning, Izzie getting cancer, George dying, the shooting, it seemed like they could never get a break, why was that?

"We are going to put out an all points bulletin for the Fantinillo brothers Richard, we are going to find her and bring her back safe." Sarge assured Richard as he patted his back. "I hope so." Richard said looking at half of his staff outside of his office.

Meredith sat quietly across from James, rubbing her belly as if to tell the baby that everything would be ok. It had grown extremely dark outside, and Meredith had no idea what time it was since James had taken her watch. Adam abruptly stood from the table to check on his resting brother, and then looked out the window. "It's time." He said looking back at Meredith. "Time…time for what?" Meredith asked tentatively. "Help me get him in the car." James demanded as he went over to wake his brother, Meredith stood up and walked over to Steve, hoping that he wasn't too heavy for her to handle. With some difficulty they were able to get Steve loaded into the back seat of the car and lying down. James slammed the car door shut and then ushered Meredith back into the cabin. "You've been a good sport, and you saved my brother, so you know what I'm going to do for you?" Adam asked menacingly Meredith shook her head 'no' unable to speak out of sheer fear. "I'm going to let you go." He said waiting for Meredith's reaction, "Thank you, thank you!" She cried almost ready to hug her captor. "There is one catch though." He said a cruel smile spreading across his face. "Wha…What?" Meredith asked nervously. "You're way out in the middle of nowhere so it's going to take you quite a while to figure out how to get out of these damned woods, so that should give me enough time to be long gone from this hell hole." Meredith's heart skipped at his words, she had to think quick though, she had to act like that was a bad thing or he would know that something was up. "But…please…please I won't tell anyone anything!" She cried honing her best acting skills. "Sorry sweetheart, this is non negotiable!" He said before pulling out the knife that he threatened Meredith with before, "You know I think I should give myself just a little extra time to get out of here." He said without warning as he slashed Meredith across the thigh, causing a searing pain to travel up her body, as she looked down the crimson blood was staining her blue scrubs rapidly. "Just to make sure you're not a quick walker." He said laughing as he turned around and left. Meredith fell down to the floor weeping uncontrollably as she heard the car speed away through the gravel. After a few minutes crying Meredith realized that she couldn't let her guard down now, she had to get out of there and fast, what if he turned back for some reason, she needed to get home. Somehow gaining a new energy even through the pain Meredith pulled herself up, cursing that James had taken all of the supplies from the hospital with him, she limped over to the door peered out and didn't see anything more than a fading dust cloud, so as best she could she began to run, run as fast as she could in the direction she thought the house would be in, "Please let Derek be home, please let the lights be on so it's easier to find!" Meredith pleaded quietly. The pain was crippling, but she had to push through it, she had to get home, if not for herself than for Isabella, it was so dark out that Meredith could barely see two feet in front of her, and then it happened Meredith's foot suddenly stepped in something wet, and cold, and rushing, it was the river! "Thank You!" She whispered to no one in particular as she began to follow the river in the direction she knew that their house would be, it was her guiding force.

After what seemed like an eternity of running along the river Meredith finally came upon a small dock, their dock! Tears began to stream down Meredith's eyes, she had never…ever considered herself a lucky person, but today…today she was the luckiest person in the world! For just a moment she cursed the 20 acres of property that they owned, giving a feeling of being so close to home yet so far, but with all of her might Meredith kept everything in perspective and kept moving, she just had to keep moving.

Again tears came to Meredith's eyes as their house came into sight, and she let out a huge sigh of relief, "It's going to be ok Isabella, we're going to be ok!" Meredith told her stomach as she made her way to the house, When Meredith finally got to the front door she went to one of the floor boards in the deck where she and Derek hid the spare key and with a great deal of satisfaction Meredith turned the key to their home and stepped in. They were safe, the only problem was that no one else knew that they were safe.

It wasn't long after James and Steve were on the freeway headed towards Yakima that they were pulled over by a state trooper, James put up a fight with a high speed chase that only ended up in he and Steve crashing after the spikes were laid across the road and unavoidable.

Everyone at Seattle Grace watched the news coverage of the high speed chase with baited breath, Derek was glued to the screen looking for any sign of Meredith being in the car, and then the car crashed and they all gasped thinking that Meredith was in the car crash too.

"Police, step out of the vehicle with your hands up!" The troopers ordered as they came up on James's Impala. James couldn't understand it, he just couldn't understand how they had caught him so easily. Feeling that there was no way out, after looking at his brothers still form in the back James pulled his knife out and plunged it into his stomach, the troopers came rushing up to the car and yanked him out, "What the hell did you do with her?" One of them ordered as James began to spit up dark blood on the asphalt, not wanting to give the police the satisfaction of finding her he told a lie of epic proportions, "You'll…never…find…where I…buried…her!" He said cruelly in between gasps for breath before his eyes suddenly went dull and he was gone. The police that were there shuddered at what they had just heard, this was going to be absolutely devastating. After loading Steve into an ambulance and sending him to a smaller hospital not affiliated with Seattle Grace Trooper Shawn went over to his radio to break the news to Sarge.

"What do you have for me?" Sarge asked as he stood in Richards office praying for good news. "James Fantinillo is dead." The trooper said as he began to choke up a little, this woman was pregnant how could he do such a terrible thing. "Well, was she in the dammed car?" Sarge asked frustrated as he looked at Richard holding his breath waiting for an answer, eyes wide. "Sarge…Fantinillo's last words were that…were that…" The trooper started to stutter. "Spit it out" Sarge practically screamed into his radio, "Sarge his that words were that we would never find where he buried her. I'm sorry." The trooper said sadly. Sarge took a large gulp just as Richard fell to the floor his head buried in his hands.

The bad thing about having a glass office is that everyone can see in. Upon seeing Richards reaction a burst of crying moans broke out, Derek, Mark, Christina, Owen, and Bailey burst into Richards office, Derek couldn't move or say anything he just stared at Richard, "Chief?" Bailey asked terrified. Richard couldn't get any words out in between sobs, Sarge looked down at him and then took the lead, "I'm so sorry, but we have reason to believe that she's gone." Sarge said trying to put it as delicately as possible. Derek ran his hand through his hair and looked back and forth between Sarge and Richard, "No…No…NO!" Derek cried as Mark pulled him into a hug, while he himself had tears staining his cheeks.

It seemed like the end of their world!


	5. Chapter 5

Unfortunately, I do not own Grey's Anatomy or any of its characters.

I hope you enjoy this chapter, sorry it's short I was in a hurry tonight but I wanted to get this out there. Please review.

Once Meredith managed to get into the house she suddenly felt completely drained, she looked down at her bleeding leg for the first time since leaving the shack only to realize that the gash was a lot worse than she originally thought it to be. Now exhausted she supported herself on the wall and made her way to the back bathroom where they kept the first aid supplies. Painfully, Meredith sterilized the wound and began suturing the gash together, wincing with each new stitch. Once Meredith had satisfactorily stitched everything closed she looked down at her handy work, "not something that Mark would endorse, but it will have to do." She said to Isabella as she began rubbing her now grumbling belly. "Oh, I'm sorry Isabella you must be starving!" Meredith said realizing how hungry she was. Propping herself up off of the toilet she wobbled into the kitchen to find something to eat. Once she had a few bites of last nights dinner and started to feel somewhat normal again it dawned on her that she had no idea how long she had been gone, but Derek must be worried sick and looking for her by now. Meredith slowly made her way upstairs to the only place that they had a landline, which was their bedroom, and was really only used for emergencies. Once she reached the phone Meredith struggled to remember Derek's cell phone number, between the baby brain, the trauma, and the sheer convenience of cell phones it was hard, but after a minute it finally came to her and she dialed the number.

To say that it was solemn at Seattle Grace was an understatement, Derek had crumpled to the floor of Richards office weeping uncontrollably, that was essentially the reaction of everyone, uncontrollable crying. "Where…Where is she?" Christina asked blankly to the Sarge, "We're not sure at this point, we are still waiting for Steve Fontonillo to regain consciousness." Sarge said wishing that he knew more. Owen couldn't pull his eyes away from Christina, this was going to break her. If the shooting hadn't broken her before this sure as hell would. A few minutes later Callie and Altman came rushing in the door looking around in hopes that the rumor they heard was untrue, but not sooner did they take a look at everyone's face that they knew it was true. "We just heard." Callie said apologizing for not being there before. Teddy went over to Owen and put a comforting hand on his shoulder and indicated towards Christina, "How's she doing?" She asked thinking nearly the exact same thing as Owen. Owen just shrugged his shoulders, unable to speak. The silence in between sobs was broken by the sound of a cell phone ringing, everyone looked around trying to figure out whose it was when Derek slowly pulled his blackberry out of his pocket, that ring tone…was this some sort of cruel joke? That was the ringtone that Meredith had set up on their cell phones so they would know if there was an emergency at home, the song was "Save a life." By the Frey. Derek looked down at the phone in disbelief, it did in fact read 'home'. Derek pressed the answer key not sure what to expect. "Hello?" He choked out. No one could believe that he had the strength to even consider answering his cell phone, so they all watched him curiously, knowing that for him to answer it would have to be someone incredibly important at this point…and they were right.

"Derek!" Meredith said a flood of emotion rushing through her at the sound of his voice, she started to shake and realized that hearing his voice was the first time since she escaped this horrible ordeal that she let what happened to her sink in. "M…M…Meredith?" Derek stuttered. Everyone's jaws dropped, it couldn't be, could it? "Oh Derek, please come home! I was kidnapped, but I escaped, please come home! I need you!" Meredith cried needing her 'knight in shining whatever', more than anything now. "Oh my God Meredith! They told us you were dead!" Derek said in shock and disbelief jumping to his feet and looking around at everyone in the office to see the same look evident on their faces. "What? No…he let me go…their hideout it was in the woods…please…I will tell you later…please just get home…I need you!" Meredith sobbed, not wanting to relive the nightmare until Derek was by her side. "Meredith, I'm coming right now just…just stay on the phone with me ok? Stay on the phone!" Derek's world had just come flying back to him, his hands were shaking as he held his cell phone. Derek started to run from the building, everyone else following closely behind him, Derek talking to Meredith the whole time, even Sarge was following them, he would need to take a police report, and he wanted to see with his own eyes this miracle. As Derek neared his Porsche Richard told him that he would drive, so without hesitation Derek threw the keys to Richard, Christina and Owen jumped in the back seat, and they sped off followed by a processional of cars. "Meredith…I love you!" Derek said for about the tenth time, he could never say it enough again, "I love you too! And so does Isabella!" Meredith said watching out the bedroom window for any signs of Derek, this was about to be the best reunion of their lives!


	6. Chapter 6

Unfortunately, Grey's Anatomy and its characters don't belong to me, but below is a story that I wrote based off of the show, which you hopefully enjoy.

I hope you like this chapter, I wanted something nice and fluffy. Please review and tell me what you think.

The drive to Meredith and Derek's house was a long one, requiring a ferry ride across the bay, and an overwhelming amount of traffic on I90, seeing that they weren't getting anywhere fast Sarge pulled his squad car in front of Richard, turned on his lights and siren, and motioned for Richard to follow him, which they were all very thankful for as they swerved in and out of traffic.

While Meredith was so glad to be talking to Derek, she was exhausted, and her eyes felt like lead, the adrenaline from the whole experience was wearing off and she wanted nothing more than to just go curl up on the couch and rest until Derek got there. "Der, I'm going to go and lay down until you get here ok?" She asked stifling yet another yawn.

"Meredith what's wrong? Are you ok?" Derek asked immediately alarmed by her sudden urge to sleep.

"Derek, I'm just so tired." Meredith said making her way to the couch and plopping down, a sudden wave of satisfaction coursing through her body as she took the weight off of her feet.

Christina was practically hugging Derek trying to listen to what Meredith was saying, concerned for her person. "Meredith be honest with me, did you hit your head? If you did you could have a concussion, or a bleed, or?" Derek's mind was racing with all of the possibilities.

Meredith laughed a little bit, "No Derek I didn't hit my head, but if you recall I am 7 months pregnant, and this little person seems to like to take as much of my energy as possible." Meredith smiled a little bit, she was so lucky to have a husband that loved her so much.

Derek still wasn't satisfied with her response, what if she had been unconscious and didn't remember hitting her head, he still didn't know if she was injured in any way, this was Meredith they were talking about, in all honesty he expected the worst when it came to her.

"Meredith, just for me, please stay awake. I need to see for myself that you are ok?" Derek said worry etched on his face as Richard looked over at him to gauge what was going on. "We're almost there anyway, what's a few more minutes?" Derek asked trying to convince her to stay with him.

Prying her eyes back open Meredith agreed to try and stay awake for Derek. If she thought back to what Derek said when she first called him, he thought she was dead, so this had been just as much of if not more of a trauma for Derek as it was for her.

"OK, well you better tell me something interesting to keep me awake." Meredith said trying to make Derek feel better.

"Something interesting huh?" Derek said pleased that Meredith was going along with him. "Well, something very interesting is that we are turning the corner to our dirt road." Derek said barely able to contain himself from jumping out of the car and running to Meredith.

"Really?" Meredith asked eagerly as she looked out the living room window. "Wait why are the police here? And wait, why are there about four other cars following the police officer?" Meredith asked suddenly nervous about who was coming to her home when all she wanted to do was cuddle up next to Derek.

"Well, Sarge came to take your statement, and the rest of the cars are your family." Derek said as he caught a glimpse of his Meredith in the window.

Meredith beamed, 'her family' she really was so lucky that she had people that cared so much about her. "Well then Dr. Shepard, I will meet you outside." Meredith said hanging up, and then propping herself up from the couch. With some effort she held on to the wall, and made her way to the front door, opening it and stepping out onto the porch.

Tears swelled in Meredith's eyes as she saw Derek jump out of the Porsche and stride towards her.

Derek couldn't believe it, standing in front of him was his radiant wife, she was alive…she really was alive. It was like a chant in his head. He knew that everyone else was getting out of their cars, but they all seemed to be a blur to him, Meredith was the only thing he could focus on as he got nearer to her. Then Derek's heart skipped a beat as he saw her legs buckle from underneath her and watched her crash down onto the deck. Derek's fast walk turned into a full on sprint as he raced to her.

"Meredith?" He asked as he reached her, terrified, "Are you dizzy? What happened?" Derek started flooding her with a million questions. Meredith just looked up at Derek blushing as she looked into his deep blue eyes. "Well, there goes my elegant reunion." Meredith said chuckling a little. Meredith began to pull herself up, but Derek would have none of that. 7 months pregnant or not, he hoisted her up and carried her into the house, laying her down on the couch.

"Derek, I'm fine." Meredith tried to assure him as he set her down. "Meredith you're not ok, you collapsed?" Derek said trying to check her pupil reactions.

Meredith shook her head and pushed Derek's finger away from her face. "Neurosurgeon's." She said as she indicated towards the gash on her leg.

Derek averted his eyes from Meredith's face and looked down to where she was pointing to see a nasty slice across her leg, which it appeared she had stitched on her own. "So you didn't hit your head?" Derek asked tentatively, a little quiver in his voice.

"No Derek. I didn't hit my head." Meredith said subtly knowing that Derek was broken up right now.

"So, you're ok?" Derek asked a hint of uncertainty

Meredith knew that 'wife in the waiting room' feeling all too well. She also knew the feeling of thinking that Derek was dead all too well, so right at this moment, she knew that Derek was hurting far worse than she was, and it was him that would need the taking care of.

Meredith grabbed Derek's face in her hands, "Derek I promise you that aside from a little exhaustion and a cut on my leg, I am perfectly fine…wait let me rephrase that I'm not fine…"

Derek's eyes were startled. Fine was her code word for not fine.

"Derek I'm great! I'm lucky! I was in a horrible situation, but you know what, I saved a life, the place they kept me hostage was only a couple of miles from our home, I escaped with nothing more than a cut on my leg, and I have a wonderful husband and family." Meredith. "So Derek, I'm lucky. I'm bright and shiny!" Meredith said smiling as she planted a gentle kiss on Derek's lips.

Derek let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding as a tear escaped from the corner of his eyes. The old Meredith would have said she was just fine after something like this happened to her, she would have recessed back to her dark and twisty self, but this Meredith, his wife, she was so strong, and so resilient. She was _his _rock.

"It would appear that there are a few people outside eagerly waiting to see my miracle of a wife for themselves." Derek said looking outside as everyone stood huddled together watching Meredith and Derek through the window.

"Oh right." Meredith said blushing. "How about you go and get them and I will go and start some tea and try to find enough food to feed this herd." Meredith said smiling.

Derek shook his head, "How about you stay put, while I go get them, and then I will take care of the refreshments." Derek said as he leaned down to kiss her on the forehead. "Sounds like a plan to me." Meredith said curling into the couch a little bit more.

"I love you." She said to Derek as he began to walk towards the door. He turned around and smiled at her, with his McDreamy eyes. "I love you too Meredith Grey!" Derek said before winking and stepping out onto the front porch.


	7. Chapter 7

Unfortunately, Grey's Anatomy and its characters don't belong to me, but below is a story that I wrote based off of the show, which you hopefully enjoy.

Thanks for the great reviews. Please keep reviewing.

As Meredith, Derek, Richard, Christina, Owen, Bailey, Alex, Lexie, Mark, and Callie along with the Sarge sat in Meredith and Derek's living room they were in awe of Meredith's harrowing tale. Derek sat next to Meredith gripping her delicate hand tightly, he was drifting to thoughts of how much she had truly changed. 4 years ago Meredith was sinking to the bottom of the bay after giving up on life, but today when she could have easily given up and become the victim she fought…she fought hard.

By the end of Meredith's story the Sarge stood up, "Meredith Grey…" He said firmly as everyone looked up at him. "Yes?" She asked quizzically. "I'm going to get this Emerald City to give you some sort of commendation because you really are a hero." He said truthfully.

Just as Meredith was about to argue with him Richard jumped in. "You know Meredith it would be very good for Seattle Grace's image to have a newly commentated hero on our staff. Think of all the good publicity." Richard said his mouth practically watering.

Everyone began to laugh, but agreed that Meredith should accept the honor.

"I'll think about it." Meredith said sincerely, before stifling yet another yawn.

"Alright, that's it, I think it's time that my lovely wife get some rest." Derek said noticing how drained Meredith really looked.

Everyone else agreed and stood up to go, taking their turns to give Meredith a hug and their love.

Christina and Owen however were lagging behind. "Christina? Is everything ok?" Meredith asked seeing Christina still sitting there.

"Mer, I know you're tired and you probably want to be with just Derek but would it be ok if I…I mean if Owen and I…" Meredith interrupted her there, "Your room is all made up, and there's even fresh sheets on the bed." Meredith said knowing without Christina saying it, she needed Meredith right now almost just as much as Derek did, because she too was broken by the news of Meredith's _'death'. _

Christina secretly appreciated that Meredith had known what she was going to ask.

Derek came back from outside after telling everyone good night, and it seemed that he too knew ahead of time that Christina would need to stay the night.

"Your room should be all set for you." Derek said coming around the corner. They all began to laugh at how well they knew each other.

"I would love to stay and cheer you up, but I need a bath and bed." Meredith said as she started to hoist herself up off the couch.

"Oh no you don't" Derek said as he scooped her up in his arms. "Well, my knight in shining whatever is sweeping me away, so goodnight." Meredith said giggling as Derek somewhat struggled taking Meredith upstairs.

"Goodnight." Owen and Christina chimed in as they too laughed watching Derek try to carry a very pregnant Meredith up the stairs.

Once they were out of sight, Christina fell into Owen's arms crying and thanking whoever it was for keeping her person alive. Owen just rubbed her back and put his face in her hair, comforting her as best he could.

When Meredith and Derek reached the bedroom Derek gently placed Meredith on the bed and went to draw her a hot bath. Once Derek had the bath set and some candles lit he went back into the bedroom and retrieved Meredith.

"This is quite the service." She said as Derek once again lifted her up and took her into the bathroom, where he began to gently strip off her scrubs.

Meredith was tired and didn't argue much but she cringed when she saw the look on Derek's face as he took in each one of her multiple cuts and bruises that were scattered across her body.

"Most of them are from the woods." Meredith said, trying to assure Derek that she hadn't been hurt too badly.

"But Meredith, you have bruises in the form of handprints all over your arms." Derek said unable to tear his eyes away from the spot where that poor excuse for a man had touched his wife.

Meredith looked down at both of her arms and exhaled a heavy breath. "Derek look in my eyes." Derek slowly looked up at Meredith, she could see the tears waiting to spill out, "Derek, you couldn't have done anything to stop this." She knew that somehow he was feeling guilty for this all.

Derek ripped his eyes away from hers, ashamed. "Yes, I could have. It was only a matter of minutes between me leaving you in the pit, and you being kidnapped. I could have stayed with you." Derek said guilt washing over him.

"Derek Shepard you look at me!" Meredith ordered. Derek snapped his head to look at Meredith, "You listen to me, you had a surgery to get to, you couldn't have known that something was going to happen. You can't babysit me 24/7. It happened, but we shouldn't focus on that. We should focus on the fact that your wife and daughter are safe and healthy after being kidnapped. How many people can say that they are ok after something like that." Meredith asked sternly. She needed to get it through Derek's head now that it wasn't his fault, or it would eat away at him forever.

"I know." Derek said quietly.

"Good." Meredith said smiling, "Now my bath is getting cold, so are you going to join me in there or not?" Meredith asked trying to bring out Derek's McDreamy smile.

It worked because a huge grin spread across Derek's face, and he began to strip down himself so he could join his wife in the bath. He helped Meredith to stand up, and gingerly get into the bathtub, then he too joined her.

When their bath was done, Derek helped Meredith get into some sweats and a t shirt before he helped her to the bed, and snuggled up next to her gently placing a protective hand on Meredith's abdomen. He inhaled deeply as her lavender conditioner overwhelmed him, and then suddenly it hit him only a few hours ago he thought he would never smell that again, he thought he would never hold Meredith like this again, he thought he would never get the chance to see his daughter, there were so many things that he thought he was going to miss out on, and then by some grace of God, he gave all of those things back to Derek. Derek finally realized what Meredith had been trying to tell him this whole time. Don't focus on what could have happened, or what he could have done to prevent what happened, focus on what did happen…Meredith was alive and well, and snoring soundly right next to him. And on those thoughts Derek drifted off to sleep, more thankful than he had ever been in his life.


	8. Chapter 8

**Unfortunately, Grey's Anatomy and its characters don't belong to me, but below is a story that I wrote based off of the show, which you hopefully enjoy. **

**Sorry I haven't written in a while, I was waiting for some inspiration, but I have it now, and have at least the next few chapters all planned out. **

**Thanks for the great reviews. Please keep reviewing. **

Addison Montgomery stepped off the airplane from LA to the bustling Sea-Tac airport, her usual manicured form was mismatched, tear stained, and disheveled. It had only been a month since she had buried her mother, and then as if things couldn't get worse, one day she comes home to a devastating news story. Addison thought back to the moment that she and Sam had turned on the TV after a long day pausing on a news channel after a familiar woman's picture popped up.

"Sad news to report from Seattle, Washington…a pregnant surgeon from Seattle Grace hospital was kidnapped and murdered by two bank robbers earlier this afternoon. The surgeon Dr. Meredith Grey is a survivor of last years deadly shooting at Seattle Grace."

Addison had been sitting on the edge of the couch staring intently at the TV screen, it couldn't be it just couldn't be, hadn't there been enough tragedy?

She had immediately pulled out her cell phone and dialed Derek's number, no answer, Richards number, no answer, Bailey's number, no answer. No one was answering their phones this was a bad sign that the news Addie had just heard was true.

"I have to go." She told Sam as she jumped up from her seat on the couch. "Do you want me to go with you?" He asked pulling her into a hug. Addison thought about it for a moment, "No…no you stay here, you need to be here for Maya, I need to leave right now, first plane." Addison said as she started running around the house gathering a few things.

It was 7:00am when Addison arrived at Sea-Tac, she quickly rushed to Avis and rented the first car they had available.

It seemed like the drive to Derek's land took an eternity, she knew there was no way he would be at the hospital after something like this, he would be home, with Meredith's things and her memory. And then it dawned on her, he didn't just lose Meredith, he lost their daughter too, unexpectedly tears began streaming down Addison's face at Derek's great loss.

When Addison pulled into the driveway she stared at Derek's beautiful house…the house he had built for Meredith, he never would have done something like that for her, his love for Meredith had been far greater than his love for Addison ever had been.

She parked the rental car and pulled herself out of the car, prepared to find Derek completely broken inside. Addison's feet made a crunching sound through the gravel as she made her way to the front stairs. Softly Addison went to knock on the door, only to find that it was unlocked, gently she pushed the door open to be hit with a surprising smell, Waffles, she distinctly smelled waffles.

With a pep in her step Addison marched through the house following the smell until she reached the kitchen to find Derek in there with red haired man that she didn't recognize cooking away. "Derek?" She said tentatively.

Derek whipped around a big smile on his face. "Addison!" He said surprised as he rushed over to give her a big hug. "What are you doing here?" He asked when he pulled away. "I should be asking you the same thing, Derek what the hell is going on?" She asked on the brink of tears.

"You didn't hear?" Derek asked a serious expression washing over his face now. "Yes I heard, of course I heard why do you think I'm here!" Addison yelled frustrated. "Shhh…you'll wake her up." Derek said ushering Addison deeper into the kitchen. Now Addison was furious, "Who am I going to wake up Derek? Your wife is dead! So who am I going to wake up?" Addison demanded tears coursing down her face rapidly at this point.

Suddenly Derek understood, "No Addie…no she escaped…she's alive!" Derek said his voice catching a little. "Oh thank God!" Addison said completely relieved as she let herself fall into one of the bar stools surrounding the island. "Derek you better tell me the whole story and right now!" Addison demanded as she reached across the counter and grabbed a few of the fresh strawberries that were sitting out now realizing how hungry she was.

Derek immediately went through the whole story with Addison, the look of shock and awe never once leaving her face. When Derek was done telling the story it took Addison a moment to take everything in. "You do know that your wife has more lives than a _cat_ don't you?" Addison said shaking her head in disbelief. Derek and Owen laughed a little while pondering how right she was.

Having realized that she had never met the other man in the kitchen with them she stood up and walked over to him, "I'm so sorry I didn't introduce myself, I'm Addison, Derek's ex-wife." Addison said extending her hand. Owen reached out and grabbed her hand, "I'm Dr. Owen Hunt, Christina's husband." Owen said shaking her hand firmly.

"Husband!" She coughed out, could this trip get any more bizarre. "Christina Yang is married?" Addison said sitting back down. Owen snickered a little, that seemed to be the response he got from everyone. "We've been married about a year now." Owen said proudly. "Well congratulations!" Addison said happily.

It wasn't more than a few minutes later when the sound of feet shuffling across the wood floor pulled the three of them from their conversation. There in the doorway, stood Meredith and Christina. "Addison!" Meredith said excitedly as she limped over to Addie and pulled her into a bear hug. "Oh Meredith I'm so glad that you and Isabella are ok!" Addison said returning the hug as more tears threatened to fall.

"What are you doing here?" Meredith asked once she pulled away. "Honestly, I thought you were dead." Addison said bluntly. Suddenly Meredith burst into tears, Derek rushed around to her side, "Meredith what's wrong?" Derek asked concerned. "Oh it's just…it's just that…you thought I was dead, and you came…that means so much to me!" Meredith said stepping away from Derek and pulling a surprised Addison into another hug.

"Oh God the hormone's are running ramped." Christina scoffed with a smile on her face.

"Of course I came, somehow my ex-husbands wife has come to mean a great deal to me." Addison replied as they all began laughing.

It had been a long week for Meredith, she had been put on mandatory leave from the hospital to recover both mentally and physically. After hearing about the rough patch that Addison was going through Meredith insisted that she stay with them for a little bit and recoup. Addison appreciated this immensely. She never thought that she would say something like this, but being with Meredith and Derek helped her to escape all of the drama of her life right now. Sam was of course upset at her decision to stay in Seattle and shut him out, but she just had to do this, it felt right to her.

Derek needed to be in New York for a medical conference where he was going to present his clinical trial, and he desperately did not want to go and leave Meredith alone, and it was too late in the pregnancy to take her with him, after some surprising discussions between he and Meredith she revealed that Addison would be staying with her, so he should go on the trip and not worry a bit about her or Isabella.

Derek's mind was blown away, how was it again that his ex-wife and current wife were practically becoming best friends, he never in a million years thought something like this would happen, but in a way he was kind of glad. He liked having Addison as a friend.

"If you're sure." Derek said to Meredith one last time as he was getting ready to go through security to board his plane. "I'm sure Derek. I will miss you but we will be fine. I promise." Meredith said wrapping her arms around him for one more hug. Derek sighed and smiled, and said his goodbyes, watching Meredith for as long as he could before he had to go up an escalator after security and she was out of sight.

Meredith waddled over to where Addison was standing looking out a window. "Now that he's gone it's time for serious shopping!" Meredith said looping her arm around Addison's. "What?" Addison asked. "We have a baby room to decorate before Derek gets back, and you are the most stylish person I know." Meredith said beaming as she and Addison exited the airport together and got in Meredith's brand new G55 AMG Kompressor Mercedes that Derek had just bought her to make her feel more safe.

As much as Meredith loved her old beat up jeep she adored this new Mercedes with its red leather interior and tank like feel.

"First things first we need to pick Christina." Meredith said. Pulling up outside of the hospital, Christina was waiting for them in the ambulance bay and she didn't look happy that she had to wait at all. "What's the plan?" She asked as she climbed in the back seat. "We're heading to Lowe's to pick out some paint and then we are going to have the nursery painted." Meredith said pulling away from the hospital.

Curious Christina asked who was painting the nursery. Meredith smiled, "I have a work crew at the house waiting for us." Meredith said eager to see Christina's reaction when she saw who the work crew was.

Meredith, Christina, and Addison had been at Lowes for about an hour before they finally decided on the colors for the nursery and the colors for the nursery bathroom. "OK, so these are the ones." Meredith said holding up two paint samples to the older gentlemen at the paint counter. He pulled his glasses down and read the samples, "Ok so we have…Lavender Frost and Tequila Sunrise." The man said as he got to work on their order. Meredith and Christina couldn't help but laugh at the color _'tequila sunrise'_, if only Addison knew the story behind Meredith and tequila.

Once the paint was prepared they had a young guy that worked there help them out to the car with the heavy barrels.

When they pulled into the driveway of the house Christina started laughing to herself as she saw Owen, Alex, and Mark all standing out front all wearing the attire she would assume one would wear to paint. All three of them had huge cheesy grins on their face as they each pulled some paint out of the back.

"You guys are life savers." Meredith said watching them haul the paint up the stairs. Addison and Christina started to make their way up the stairs as well when Meredith called out to them gently rubbing her hand in circles over her bulging belly. "Where do you think you guys are going?" Meredith asked smiling.

They both turned around surprised. "We have some shopping to do at the baby store." Meredith said excitedly. "My favorite part!" Addison said gleefully rushing back down the stairs. "Oh…great." Christina said looking back towards where the guys had just ascended to.

Meredith knew that shopping, especially baby shopping wasn't really Christina's _thing, _"Would you rather keep an eye on the guys and help them paint?" Meredith asked knowingly. Christina smiled. "Well someone really should make sure they don't screw this up, it is my god baby's room after all." Christina said trying to maintain her composure, without laughing. "Go for it." Meredith said even though Christina was already running through the door to catch up with the guys.

Addison just watched everything unfold, realizing how much she missed being that close with someone that you knew everything about, everything they were feeling. Addison was walking towards the SUV when Meredith threw the keys at her, "Would you mind driving?" Meredith asked sweetly, sick of being behind the wheel. "Sure." Addison said excited to drive this beautiful vehicle.

When they reached Babies R Us Meredith took in a big breath, she really was doing this, she was having a baby, she was happy. Addison noticed the expression on her face, "Are you ready?" She asked with an underlying meaning. Meredith looked at her with tears threatening to spill over the dam. "I am." She said confidently as they got out of the car and went into the massive store.

They had the time of their life picking out everything for the nursery and the bathroom, Addison found a beautiful bedding set that was lavender with French Toile and polka dots, the moment Meredith saw what Addison had picked out she assured the red head that it was perfect, they picked out a beautiful sleigh white crib, a bacati flower basket lavender canopy to hang over the crib, an adorable mini chandelier that could hang in the center of the room, sheen lace curtains, a changing table, dresser, and armoire to match the crib, a circular chair for nursing, rubber duckie everything for the bathroom, crackled glass dispensers for all of the Johnson and Johnson products so they would look more elegant, and so much more including about a million outfits for the little princess.

When they reached the check out, the young girl working it was almost overwhelmed by the multiple carts that they had with them, along with the tags for larger items that they couldn't move. "Is there any way that we could have the big stuff delivered today?" Meredith asked barely able to contain herself, she absolutely couldn't wait to set up her babies room and surprise Derek. Unsure the girl phoned for her manager, and after some persuading was able to find someone that could deliver everything later in the afternoon. Meredith was practically jumping for joy at the news.

Once they had checked out, after a massive bill they loaded every inch of Meredith's Mercedes, the small stuff was piled so high that Addison could barely see out the back to drive.

As they drove off Meredith got up the nerve to talk to Addison about something, that had been on her mind for a little while now, "Addison?" Meredith asked tentatively. "Yes?" Addison asked looking over at the somewhat vulnerable woman sitting next to her clutching a turtle stuffed animal that they had gotten at the store, it was the neatest thing, it's shell would illuminate stars all over the babies room.

"Are you doing ok?" Meredith asked quietly, "Seriously?" Meredith knew that something was eating away at Addison and she wanted to get to the bottom of it, she would hate to think that being around her and Derek was causing her pain. Addison let out a sigh, "Meredith you're so kind but…" Meredith interrupted her, "No Addison please tell me what's wrong I want to help you." Meredith pleaded.

Addison couldn't believe that she was about to have this conversation with Meredith of all people, "If you want to know the truth, I think I miss being here in Seattle with all of you." Addison admitted. "I have friends in LA lots of them and a boyfriend that I love, but it just doesn't seem like we are all there for each other, not like you guys are all there for each other anyway. Surprisingly there's too much history in LA." Addison finally said it, she finally let out what had been bothering her for some time now. "Wait there's more history there than there is in Seattle, with your ex-husband and your ex-…lov…boyfriend here." Meredith couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Well, Sam my boyfriend he is my best friends ex-husband, and he doesn't want kids, which is something that I desperately want even if I have to adopt. Pete I fell in love with along with his son, but I was never the one for him, and he chose Violet over me, and I shouldn't sound so bitter about that because Violet is his son's mother, but that was hard, and then there's Dell who died, he was my friend, and my mother…my mother killed herself in a hotel in LA." There she had done it, she had said everything that was eating away at her for a long time now.

Meredith was shocked by her honesty. "I'm so sorry Addie." She said squeezing the turtle a little tighter. "Thanks." Was all that Addison could get out as her eyes began to blur with tears. "We miss you, and you are always welcome back here with us, but Addison if you love Sam don't give up on him because of history, don't shut him out because you're afraid to be vulnerable, I did that with Derek and I almost lost him, sometimes it's hard, but you have to fight, you have to fight for the happily ever after, but once you get it, all of the tears and the pain, and the hurt, all of it is worth it, when he is holding you in his arms." Meredith was crying and sort of rambling now, but every word she said was true and Addison was starting to realize that.

Addison laughed through the tears, "How did we get to this point?" She asked shaking her head. "What point?" Meredith asked whipping her own tears away. "The point where you are giving _me_ advice about my love life?" Addison asked as both of them started cracking up, each of them secretly happy that they had gotten to that point.


End file.
